Amadeus Cho
Amadeus Cho is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by American writer Greg Pak and Canadian artist Takeshi Miyazawa, the character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy vol. 2 #15. Cho usually appears in books featuring the Avengers or individual members of that group, such as the Hulk or Hercules.
A 19-year-old Korean American genius and one of the smartest people on Earth, Cho becomes the Totally Awesome Hulk in The Totally Awesome Hulk #1. In contrast with Bruce Banner, who found his Hulk powers to be a burden, Cho is a confident character who revels in his newfound abilities. Much like Banner's cousin Jen Walters/She-Hulk, Cho largely retains his normal personality, in particular the majority of his intelligence and emotional control. After nearly being overwhelmed by his Hulk persona, Cho regains control over his body and assumes a new transformation known as Brawn.
Publication history
Amadeus Cho was created by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, and first appeared in 2005 in Amazing Fantasy #15. Pak brought Cho back as a major character in the World War Hulk storyline, and then as one of the primary characters in The Incredible Hercules. He subsequently starred in his own miniseries, Heroic Age: Prince of Power.In December 2015, as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Cho began headlining the new series The Totally Awesome Hulk, written by Pak and drawn by Frank Cho.
In May 2025, Cho's 20th anniversary was commemorated in the one-shot Amadeus Cho 20th Anniversary Special #1. The anniversary special was written and illustrated by Cho's co-creators Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, respectively, with Creees Lee and Jethro Morales joining for additional art.
In March 2025, it was announced that Cho would be a main character in the upcoming June 2025 limited series Imperial, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by artists Federico Vicentini and Iban Coello.
Fictional character biography
Amadeus Cho is a Korean American named after his parents' love for Mozart's music and Methodist beliefs. His story begins when he wins the Excello Soap Company's "Brain Soap" competition, making him the seventh-smartest person in the world. Pythagoras Dupree, the game's creator and the world's sixth smartest man, tries to kill Amadeus to preserve his ranking. In a botched attempt, Amadeus' parents and twin sister Maddy are killed, but he survives and goes on the run with a Vespa scooter and a coyote pup. When the Hulk later saves him from some of Dupree's men, Amadeus considers the Hulk a friend and a hero worthy of respect.Amadeus is next seen in the crossover event World War Hulk, where he encounters a de-powered Jen Walters. He then gathers Hulk's former colleagues, Hercules and Archangel, both of whom considered themselves in debt to the Hulk for mistakenly attacking him on a previous occasion. With the assistance of Namora, they attempt and fail to stop the Hulk.
''The Incredible Hercules''
The Incredible Hulk series is then retitled The Incredible Hercules from #112 on, and Amadeus becomes Hercules' sidekick. While on the run with Hercules, Amadeus participates in a number of adventures, including helping Hercules and other Earthly gods defeat the pantheon of Skrull gods during the Secret Invasion storyline. It is revealed that Amadeus's greatest fear is finding out that all the bad events in his life are his fault.Following this storyline, the pair battle Amazons. Amadeus is attracted to the Amazon warrior Delphyne Gorgon. Upon her becoming queen, she is obliged to end any flirtation to his sadness.
Together with Athena, Amadeus and Hercules next confront the new head of the Olympians, Hera, and travel to the Underworld to rescue Zeus from Pluto. There it is revealed that Maddy is still alive, but missing. Upon learning this, he tearfully leaves Hercules, determined to find out what happened to his sister.
Venturing to the fictional town of Excello, Utah, he encounters former FBI agent Sexton, who had contacted him shortly after the death of his parents, and battles Dupree. Amadeus realizes the potential of his brain to serve as a 'hypercomputer', and figures out that Sexton is in fact Athena in disguise.
Amadeus finally confronts Dupree in person, and learns that Dupree was not aware of Maddy being missing. Amadeus also learns that his destiny is to be the new hero of the modern era of reason and to stop the "primordial darkness." Dupree then challenges Amadeus to a specialized version of Russian roulette, which Amadeus refuses to do, leaving Dupree to simply shoot himself. After grieving about the situation, he then discovers the truth about Hera's mysterious "Continuum" project.
Parallel to those stories, in the aftermath of the Secret Invasion storyline, the character is used by writer Dan Slott in his run on the Mighty Avengers series.
Athena then reveals to Amadeus that he is her choice to be the next Prince of Power, the "hero of the mind" as opposed to Hercules' "hero of strength," thereby suggesting that Hercules will soon meet his death. Amadeus vows to prevent this, but ultimately appears to be unsuccessful. After a fight to restore Athena to life after Delphyne uses a weapon to turn her to stone, Athena destroys the Continuum, causing the universe Hercules is in to be destroyed.
A funeral service is held at the Parthenon in Athens where a tearful Amadeus demands Athena show herself and pay her respects. In her place appears a collection of Earth's heroes including Thor and the Warriors Three, Bruce Banner, Skaar, Namor, Namora, the Black Widow, Wolverine, Angel, and Snowbird. Athena finally arrives and reveals that Amadeus is the new leader of the Olympus Group. Some of the other gods object and each chooses a mortal proxy to do battle for them. But the combatants ultimately turn against the gods, and Phobos uses his power over fear to manipulate Hades into opening a portal to the Underworld. Amadeus travels into the land of the dead to look for Hercules and meets Persephone, wife of Hades. She tells him that Hades would not have allowed him in if Hercules' soul had been there. The following Monday Athena arrives at Olympus Group headquarters to find that Amadeus has accepted her offer and is now acting as CEO. He tells her that he is not her champion, he is Hercules' champion, and that he will be using all the powers given to him to find Hercules.
Prince of Power
Athena meets with the Council of Godheads to discuss the new Heroic Age, and who should be selected to confront the coming darkness of Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Other Skyfathers suggest Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, but Athena states that Amadeus will save the world. Amadeus, now in charge of the Olympus Group has Bruce Banner scan the multiverse to find Hercules. However, it is determined that this will take over one trillion years to work. After a battle with the Griffin, Amadeus is visited by Vali Halfling, the leader of the Pantheon, who proposes an alliance in order to gather the necessary ingredients to become as powerful as the Skyfathers: Hebe's ambrosia, the golden apples of Idunn, the spells of the Book of Thoth, and the amrita cup of Dhanvantari. Amadeus steals the list from Vali and goes to Asgard himself, only to find that Vali had already stolen the apples, framing him for the theft. Amadeus convinces Thor that he is innocent, and Thor then joins his quest to both stop Halfling and resurrect Hercules. With some additional assistance from Delphyne, who is now his girlfriend, Amadeus succeeds in thwarting Halfling and using the elixir to assume true godhood. However, he realizes that he is inadequate to wield this power permanently, and he instead transfers it to the returned Hercules, as Hercules warns that the Chaos King is coming.''Chaos War''
During the "Chaos War" storyline, Amadeus helps Hercules and Thor gather Sersi, Venus, Daimon Hellstrom, Silver Surfer, and Galactus together as the second incarnation of the God Squad. Amadeus calculates that Amatsu-Mikaboshi by now has consumed most of the Multiverse and urges humanity to escape to an unpopulated and sealed-off continuum. While Hulk and his allies, the God Squad, Alpha Flight, and the surviving Dead Avengers fight Amatsu-Mikaboshi's forces, Amadeus and Galactus work on a machine that will transfer Earth to the sealed-off continuum. Amatsu-Mikaboshi is eventually defeated after being thrown into the continuum.Fear Itself
In Fear Itself, Amadeus Cho ends up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with X-23, Spider-Girl, Power Man, and Thunderstrike. During the battle, they are attacked by samurai sharks. It is revealed that Amadeus assembled them in the hopes that they would join him as a new super-team. The others believe he was manipulating them and turn down his offer.Marvel NOW!
In Savage Wolverine, Amadeus Cho appears on an island in the Savage Land, where he stops a fight between Wolverine and a tribe of Neanderthals after one of them kills Shanna the She-Devil. He convinces them that he is their god and that they must help save Shanna's life. Using the lifeblood of a Man-Thing, the Neanderthal tribe resurrect Shanna. Amadeus tells Shanna what the Neanderthal natives had explained to him: the machine powering the damping field was also powering a prison, one holding an ancient hostile alien presence. Realizing that Wolverine would be releasing this creature, Shanna races to stop him. She arrives in time with Amadeus behind her and stops Wolverine. Hulk appears before them, however, and quickly starts a scuffle with Wolverine in which the machine is damaged anyway.Following an eight-month time skip in the Time Runs Out storyline, Amadeus joins the Illuminati. He is captured by a joint S.H.I.E.L.D./Avengers task force led by Susan Storm.